Hedges vs. Thompson

I feel like Hedges is one of the most negative writers I have ever read. In the first piece we read from Hedges, America the Illiterate, he just went on and on about how people can’t read and speak as well as they use to and how there are many people who are illiterate. Now in this next piece we read by Hedges, Bad Days for Newsrooms- and Democracy, we had the pleasure of listening to Hedges rant about how the age of the reporter and the newspaper is coming to an end.
I am not disagreeing that newspapers are becoming less important, but it is perfectly OK. We live in a society that is always on the go. People don’t have time to stop and read a newspaper. About the only thing we can do is maybe turn on the news in the morning or in the evening while we are also doing other things. But there is nothing wrong with that. The news isn’t necessary to our survival. Yes it’s good to keep up with current events and know what’s going on around us but if we don’t know, it will not hurt us. Also, I would like to return to the topic of America the Illiterate. In that article, Hedges talks about how many people are illiterate and can’t read. But according to http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp, the enrollment of children in school is at an all time high and the illiteracy rate of teenagers is at an all time low. I know Hedges article focuses on mostly the illiteracy rate of adults, but the chances are at one point, these adults knew how to read. But for other reasons such as the job they chose or just their lifestyle, they may not need to read any longer.
Clive Thompson has a very good view on all this change. In Thompson’s article, he actually says that without facebook and social networking, most people probably wouldn’t be writing at all. He views all this as a positive change, as it should be viewed. The whole reason adults become illiterate is because they stop using their reading and writing skills so therefore they lose them. Thompson states that without the Internet, some people would never write anything again after school. So it is nice to hear a positive view of the changing of the reading and writing of our society compared to the negative views of Chris Hedges.